Student Graduates From University Two Weeks Before She Even Graduates From High School: ‘I Didn’t Want to Waste Any Time’

While Raven Osborne was still in third grade, teachers told her she was not an A-grade student and that her classes were too hard on her.

Now, Osborne proved them wrong.

Shocking Feat

The high school student, 18, picked up her college degree two weeks prior to her graduating from actual high school- and she did it all while a straight-A student, even her class’ valedictorian.

“I’m happy about the situation,” the modest Osborne said. She graduated with a degree in sociology obtained from Purdue University Northwest despite her still finishing her last couple of week in the 21st Century Charter high school located in Gary, Indiana. The school is free and set in a city inflicted by high dropout rates and poverty.

“She’s a ceiling-breaker, a mold-buster, an incredibly disciplined young lady,” said Kevin Teasley, the CEO of his GEO Foundation, the company that operates her high school, to PEOPLE. “The world is her oyster now.”

Worried about garnering college debt in her early age, Osborne came to the decision to enroll is as many courses in college as possible while her costs were able to be covered, she said to PEOPLE.

She enrolled right after her freshman year. “I was just thinking I didn’t want to waste any time,” she said.

Graduating

For the following four years, she attended high school while simultaneously taking college classes over the internet, summers and in a local community college prior to enrolling in Purdue University Northwest in Hammond.

With her minor in childhood education, young Osborne plans to earn a teaching certificate and become a teacher.

“I hope it sends a message,” Osborne said of her achievements. “I think it can teach students that college is something they can attain. The conditions of a city don’t define its people.”